Should Euthanasia be Legalised?

Picture accreditation: Lenneke Veerbeek

Should terminally ill have the right to die?

On the 27th February 2009, terminally ill couple Peter and Penelope Duff made the gruelling trip to Switzerland to humanely and legally end their lives. The husband and wife were both suffering from raging forms of cancer, they felt it would be better to die in peace rather than put their family through weeks of seeing them both in agonising pain. However, voluntary euthanasia is not legal in this country so the pair had to go to Switzerland. If euthanasia was legalised it would come as a welcome relief to many terminally ill people who would rather die in peace than wait to die in pain. Should terminally ill patients have the right to decide that they want to die? If it was legalised in the UK it would have to be very carefully regulated of course. Ethical questions would arise; for example, would a terminally ill child have the right to choose to die, would they know what they're agreeing to? Would this decision be down to the parents? What if the parents had chosen for the child to die, but the child doesn't want to, or vice versa? What if there is a chance that the patient could eventually get better? These questions probably make it impossible for suicide clinics to become legal in the UK. The point can be argued that if a terminally ill patient really had the willpower to go through with suicide then they should be willing to travel to Switzerland to do it. The case of voluntary euthanasia was brought up recently by the ITV drama 'A Short Stay in Switzerland'. This drama was based upon real life Dr. Ann Turner's last days before she decided to take the trip to Switzerland. In this drama the viewer was given a inside look on how this decision affects the surrounding family. Again another ethical question arises: Is it better for the family to see you die naturally but in pain, or for them to see a planned death but in peace?

In my opinion voluntary euthanasia should be legalised in the UK as long as it was specifically only for people who were definitely terminally ill and only for those over the age of 18 when they can be considered old enough to make their own decisions. The situation becomes far too complicated if children become involved.